Threats target Border Patrol agents

A group of young people demonstrate Saturday on the Rio Grande near the Paso del Norte Bridge to protest last week's fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Juarez boy by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Some of the demonstrators cut a hole in one of the fences on the U.S. side of the river.

EL PASO -- The Border Patrol confirmed Sunday that it has received threats since last week's shooting of a 15-year-old Juárez resident who allegedly threw rocks at a Border Patrol agent.

"We've received telephone calls with threats, and there's been intelligence to that effect, but so far the threats are uncorroborated," Border Patrol Agent Ramiro Cordero said Sunday.

"In the past, we've had bounties of $250,000 and $25,000 placed on the heads of our agents, but none of those threats were carried out. I do not believe we had a bounty specified by these latest threats."

Recently, graffiti cursing the Border Patrol appeared on the walls of the concrete Rio Grande channel. One statement on the walls says, "Sergio vive la lucha sigue" (Sergio lives the struggle continues), alluding to Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, the boy who was killed last week.

On Saturday, Border Patrol agents wearing riot gear stood near the railroad tracks in South El Paso while youths threw rocks at the U.S. side of the border and cut a hole in a U.S. chain link fence, officials said.

"It was a direct response to what was taking place on Saturday, in case anything went wrong," Cordero said Sunday. "Our agents showed tremendous restraint while safeguarding our border. We had no reports of injuries or damage to our agents or their vehicles."

A group of unidentified youths had walked from Juárez across the Rio Grande bed for a rock-throwing and vandalism session that lasted more than an hour.

They had joined the Saturday afternoon rally that the Frente Diverso Democratico organized near the Paso del Norte bridge to protest the June 7 shooting death of Hernández by a Border Patrol agent.

The gathering was peaceful until several youths broke away and crossed over to the U.S. side of the border to throw rocks where U.S. agents were patrolling.

During the rally, which organizers described as a cultural protest, Hernández's family washed blood away from the spot where the boy fell over after he was mortally wounded.

The Border Patrol agent, who has not been identified, was on the U.S. side of the border when he allegedly fired toward the boy's direction. Hernández was standing on the Mexican side of the border when he was throwing rocks at the agent.

FBI officials said the Border Patrol agent was trying to hold down a suspect whom he caught trying to cross the border illegally near the Paso del Norte Bridge.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said a proper border fence could have prevented the shooting.

King said Hernández was charged in the United States with alien smuggling in 2009, and appeared on a most-wanted list of juvenile smugglers compiled by authorities in El Paso.

"When faced with a life-threatening situation, this agent appears to have responded to lethal force with lethal force as authorized," King said in a statement. "But, this incident could have been avoided if the administration had lived up to its responsibility under the Secure Fence Act to build fences on our border.

"A border wall would dramatically reduce illegal immigration, and it would give Border Patrol agents protection from violent assaults that they now face. If we are serious about ending violence along the border, we must make the construction and completion of border fences our priority."

Last week, the U.S. attorney's office announced that it was investigating whether the agent violated Hernández's civil rights.

Chihuahua state officials were in charge of the investigation on the Mexican side until Mexico's federal attorney general decided to take over the case because the death occurred on federal property, the Mexican side of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).

"Although Mexico and the United States are conducting separate investigations, they will exchange information to advance the overall investigation," said Adrian Sosa Morales, spokesman for the Mexican consulate in El Paso."For example, Mexico needs to know whether the shell casings match the U.S. agent's weapon."

The U.S. and Mexican commissions of the IBWC oversee boundary issues along the border.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.